“I don’t want him back yet.”

Dana thanked him for telling her.

She didn’t ask him to justify it with another memory.

I sat beside him, leaving space until he moved closer.

For months, I had imagined keeping the family together as getting everyone into the same room again.

Now I could see that a room wasn’t safe merely because it contained all of us.

“I won’t argue him back in because I miss the family we had,” I told Dana later.

She nodded and kept the focus on the plan.